Power of Attorney and Care Home fees

Hal17

I have Power of Attorney for my dad who is currently living in a care home. He has full mental capacity and understands what is happing but just says, "I am happy to leave everything to you".

As far as the care home contract states, I am the person responsible for the payment of fees and this is paid by direct debit from my own bank account.

I am in the process of selling my dad's house to cover his on-going care fees and was wondering if it is legal for me to keep the money from the house sale in a bank account solely in my name? I have an account which is separate from my own finances where I have been paying his care fees to date. I have tried to find some feedback on-line without success. Thanks.

tooldle

My arrangement was to keep mum’s account in her name with me as the only card holder / cheque book holder. My card said POA for Mrs xxxx. Putting it into your own account could be seen as having taken Dad’s funds, could it not?

Brie

I would at a minimum have the money in a joint account.  That way you get double the FCA protection (as unlikely as it will be for you to need it) and there's no question about it being (at least partially) his.  

JGB1955

I would only be happy with the fees being paid from an account in your father's name. 

born_again

How are you funding the current fee's you are paying?

Personally if your father has his own bank account. Pay the house sale into there (any savings accounts would be a better place & transfer funds to pay fee's)
Then transfer DD for fee's to that account.
I take it you have POA  registered with his bank?

You need to look down the line, to what will happen when he passes & who is in the will. If other are going to benefit, they can look at where the money has gone.

Keep_pedalling

Do not do this, you would leave a major financial mess if anything happened to you.

Hal17

Thank you for all the prompt replies, they all make perfect sense and I agree with all the comments.

I am his only direct relative and sole beneficiary on his will, but can understand if anything happened to me it could prove difficult for my family to sort out. I hadn't really thought it through fully, so your comments were vey helpful. 

My wife is named as a second person on the POA, so we've covered that if required.

So going forward I will open additional saving accounts in his name with me as POA on the each account, ensuring I keep within the maximum for FSCS cover. Thanks again.
  

Hal17

Can I ask another question following on from the comment by Brie regarding a joint account.

I do have POA on Dads accounts but at the moment these have limited funds. Clearly when the house sale is completed we will have a large sum of money to allocate to various saving pots to fund on-going care.

I understand that I could open savings accounts in joint names with my Dad without me having to declare any POA interest on this new accounts. Unless I am missing something this seems the most logical way as these joints accounts seem easier to open and manage. 

tooldle

With joint accounts there is a risk of the account being frozen by the bank, if one account holder loses capacity. As you already have LPA, getting it registered and logged with the bank prevents the bank freezing Dad’s assets. 

Plus, what Keep_pedalling has already said.

Keep_pedalling

In addition to the danger of something happening to you, joint accounts will cause you issues with HMRC who will assume you are receiving 50% of the interests, 

Hal17

Thanks tooldle and Keep_pedalling, that makes sense. I realize that I might have been making things more difficult. After reading all the very helpful comments, I will fill his existing accounts for which I already have LPA in place. For the balance I will open new accounts in his name and add LPA for those new accounts. Thank you all again.